Embiid unhappy with NBA's handling of Saturday's game

On Saturday afternoon, the Sixers hosted the Denver Nuggets and lost 115-103. The loss was both predictable and defensible considering Joel Embiid did not play in that game, and neither did Ben Simmons.

Nor Tobias Harris. And Shake Milton. And many other Sixers.

In fact, Philadelphia only had seven healthy bodies total. The NBA mandates that if a team cannot roster 8 active players for a game, then it will be postponed. Doc Rivers was forced to list Mike Scott as active despite the forward being unavailable with a left knee contusion.

After Seth Curry left Thursday's game against the Brooklyn Nets following a positive COVID-19 test result, the Sixers underwent two rounds of testing and contact tracing the following day. By Saturday's game time, the Sixers were without Curry, in addition to Harris, Milton, Matisse Thybulle and Vincent Poirier due to safety measures. While both Embiid and Simmons successfully cleared protocol, they were out because of back tightness and left knee swelling, respectively. Furkan Korkmaz also missed the game with a left adductor strain that has sidelined him since the fourth game of the season, and Terrance Ferguson was out for personal reasons.

It was the first time since the Houston Rockets-Oklahoma City Thunder season opener that a scheduled game appeared to be in jeopardy because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. That contest was postponed when the Rockets did not produce enough players eligible to participate after health and safety protocols were enforced. While a number of players and personnel across the league had tested positive since, no rosters were so heavily impacted that postponement was necessary.

It begs the question: why did the NBA force this game to be played?

Perhaps the league itself recognized its nebulous decision, because the very next day, the Boston Celtics-Miami Heat matchup was postponed under similar circumstances. While the situations were not identical--both Boston and Miami reported multiple players tested positive or were possibly exposed, while on Saturday, the Nuggets were without only Michael Porter Jr. due to the protocol--it nonetheless looms as a curious decision.

Joel Embiid took to social media to voice his displeasure with the situation:

After previously stating there were no plans to pause the season due to the pandemic, following the postponement of at least two more games on Monday, the league has scheduled a special Board of Governors meeting for Tuesday, per ESPN.

In Embiid's mind, these decisions should have been made about a day earlier.